As a resident of the Wellington-Halton Hills riding, I make a point of reading the Queen’s Park Report and the Ottawa Report columns contributed by our sitting MPP and MP respectively. While I do not know for sure, I assume that the space for these columns is provided free of charge by the Wellington Advertiser, as a public service. I also assume that this space would be provided by the Wellington Advertiser to the sitting MPP and MP, irrespective of which political party they may represent. While these columns have sadly become increasingly partisan over the past few years, they do still contain some information about the provincial and federal legislative agenda.
Given this, I was surprised to read the “Queen’s Park Report” in the February 13th edition of the Wellington Advertiser. It was entirely a promotion for one of the candidates for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. There was no information in the “Report” about Queen’s Park. One assume it was targeted at Progressive Conservative Party members. As such – I certainly trust that the fair market advertising value of the space devoted to this edition of the column will be shown by that candidate as a campaign expense; and that the Wellington Advertiser will either be paid for the space, or will be listed as a campaign contributor by that candidate.
Clarence Haverson